Before The Flowers Bloomed
by Tiruneko
Summary: Everyone knows the story. Everyone knows the ending. But what they don't know is the tale that comes before. Before the betrayal, before the blood spilled, before the lives lost by her hand. The tale that comes before is beautiful, untainted, and pure. Our birth was blessed by the church bells, but our death was cursed by the thorns growing too close to roses. Not flowers of evil.


_-*Chapter One*-_

Most people know my sister by the name, The Tainted Queen, The Daughter of Evil, The Bitter Child. Everyone knows the story. Everyone knows the ending. But what they don't know is the tale that comes before. Before the betrayal, before the blood spilled, before the lives lost by her hand. The tale that comes before is beautiful, untainted, and pure. This is why I must tell it, before I come to my end by the cruel hand of fate, so that maybe, after we're gone, someone may look upon her as I did. With love.

And so, I begin my tale. I will tell this not as her loyal servant. I will tell this not as her friend, nor her guardian. I will tell my tale, this tale, with sincerity pure as her heart. I will tell this as her brother.

I beg you, after we're gone, after this story has ended that you might, maybe for an instant think upon us differently. Not as The Daughter of Evil and her faithful dog, but as a simple brother and sister dealt a rotten hand by fate.

Our birth was blessed by the church bells, but our death was cursed by the thorns blooming just a little too close to delicate flowers. Not flowers of evil.

*...*

Rin runs from the castle doors, small and bare feet speeding down the marble steps and out into the back garden. Her small blonde head bobs up and down as she jumps up on the edge of the fountain, running along the cold grey stone. With a small oomf she smacks down into the perfectly manicured grass bellow her, the shouts of her care taker yelling angrily from inside the castle's walls.

Seeing no other viable option the little girl with dirt smudges on her cheeks dashes through the hedges that nip and tear at her dress. The child comes tumbling out, headfirst on the other side, out, far out by the canopy hanging over the courtyard.

A figure turned to face her.

"Len-n-y-y-y!" The little girl whines, picking herself up and running up to the boy her size. The boy's back is turned to her and as the tiny girl wraps her surprisingly strong arms around his neck he yelps in surprise, falling to his back on the tile and taking the girl with him. He lands on top of her. "M-o-o-ove!" She grunts from beneath him, pushing with her small and rounded palms.

"S-S-sorry!" The boy scrambles off of her, eventually sitting down facing her as she slowly raises her head upwards with a glare.

"That really hurt!" She moans, adjusting the dirty and torn white bow tied on top of her mass of golden blonde hair. The boy frowns.

"Sorry." His crystal blue eyes scan the identical girl up and down, his eyes falling onto the skirt of her dress. The dress was a puffy orange thing, with large rounded sleeves with delicate white lacing. A large matching white bow to the one atop her head is wrapped around the waist of the gown. Looking closer the child notices that at the edges of the ribbon are intricate and hand crafted silk patters like those off of a doily. The dress is covered in dirt smudges, the edges torn and snagged, and the bow raggedy and worn, and the bottom of the skirt sopping wet. "Rin! What did you do?" The boy shouts. The angry looking shot haired blonde girl punches him in the mouth, using her tiny fingers to squeeze and grab his lips. Her eyes have an icy glare.

"Shh! Do you want Lady Haku to find us?" The young girl cautions, releasing her firm grip on her obvious twin.

"Sorry…"

"Lenny, stop doing that." She whispers at him, standing after the boy.

"Stop doing what?" He asks, walking off with the girl at his heels.

"Whining and looking like you're about to cry! Only babies cry, that's why I never- ever cry!" Rin throws her arms up over her head, jumping up once and landing with a determined smirk. She pulls her arm in to her chest then extends it out with her finger pointing a little too close into the boy's face.

The boy brushes the finger away, sighing at the girl. "So-… never mind."

"Young Miss Rin! Where have you run off too? Come back here at once, your mother will be very cross with you!" A harsh female voice shouts through the garden.

Rin giggles bubbly, snatching her twin unexpectedly by the wrist and pulling him behind her as she runs through the sprawling masses of the castle's estate gardens. The boy looks over his shoulder nervously as the two disappear into the tall hedges. His black sleeveless vest catches on a thorn sticking out of a rose bush and he tugs gently to set it free, but with Rin pulling the vest rips easily. Len gasps.

"Stupid thorns!" The girl grunts, pulling her own dress off of the spiny bush.

"Rin, be more careful, you'll cut yourself." Her twin, Len, cautions.

The two break past the lurking hedges into a courtyard type area. In front of them is the castle's massive guarded gates. The black iron with spikes crafted on the edges looms high above the heads of the two five year old children and Rin gulps just a little. The sound of hooves approaching just beyond the gate's bars startle her and she screeches, arms flying wildly for Len.

"Eep!" She turns, nearly jumping on top of the boy, wrapping her small tube-like arms once again around his neck, nearly choking him.

"R-Rin!" He pulls her off his neck, instead he bends her arm, hooking it through his own. She watches him with curiosity shining in her wide eyes. Those swimming eyes contain great depth, only the surface layer atop a many layered iceberg, only a small portion breaking above the ocean. The world those eyes will see, the tears those eyes will hold. The ocean those eyes will hide. Len even saw it in her then.

"Where'd you learn that, Lenny?" She asks, brushing a tiny strand of shining hair out of her eyes that fascinate the little boy so.

"I uh, well it's how the grown-ups do it. I watch Papa lead Mama like this all the time, see? Easier to lead." He pulls her gently alongside him, demonstrating.

"Oh-h-h-h…"

"Now hurry!" Len tugs her out of the courtyard entrance and into the bushes nearby. Their heads bob just above the plants as they watch the carriage pull up to the gate.

Rin's head shoots up rapidly from out of their hiding place as soon as the maroon and golden carriage pulled by white horses enters the gate.

"Mama! Len, its Mama and Papa! They're back!" Rin's eyes shimmer with the afternoon light as she heaves herself over the bush.

The carriage door slides open and a woman steps out. A feathery maroon dress to match the shade of the carriage is met with the wide eyed face of a smiling little girl. A woman that looks remarkably similar smiles down at Rin, placing a white gloved hand a top her head and rubbing gently.

"My, my, what happened to your new gown your Aunt Neru sent, Rin dear?" The woman has a breathtakingly delicate face swimming with pink blush. Her shimmering navy eyes cast a light into Rin's and she smiles up at the woman. The lady in the maroon dress with white Cinderella gloves has a cascading waterfall of sunshine gold hair that twists and turns and dances under black pins and clips, flowing down her back and shoulders with famous grace. Her touch is soft as a feather when she strokes the side of Rin's face with the gloves hand of hers.

"Queen Lenka, oh Queen Lenka, my dearest apologies. I don't know what got into her! We were just trying on the dress and she ran, fast as she could! I've never seen a child so quick! Would you like me to escort her back inside where she can be properly dressed, cleaned, and tended to? She has quite a lot more studies to attend to for today, as does the boy. We've lost a lot of precious time due to today's unfortunate mishaps, but I'd be willing to make it up with extra time with the children of Your Majesty." A flustered woman says. The woman is wearing a black dress with a frilled white apron sliding over it. She has snow white hair pulled into a pony tail and two frontal pieces and a purple ribbon wrapped in her bangs. She looks at the queen with a fake kindness, but as she glances down at Rin she sends her a look of rabid fury.

"No, my dear that's quite alright, isn't it darling? Why did you run from Madame Haku, dear?" Lenka bends down to face her daughter.

"'Cause Mama, it's nice outside today and I wanted to see the birds. She wouldn't let me." Rin pouts. Len walks up behind his sister, his mother gives him a smile of acknowledgement but continues to address Rin.

"Rin, we can't just run away from the task at hand because it isn't want we want to do then. You can't just run away from things that displease you, you need to see them through, or do something to change them. If Madame Haku asks you to do something and you don't agree you need to change it by speaking to her about it, not simply running off. Now, let's go see the birds together with your brother now. Len, did you take care of Rin while I was gone?" Lenka asks her son, smiling at him with her warming gaze.

"Mm! I did, Mama."

"That's my good boy. Come on you two, let's go now."

Rin took her mother's advice to heart from that day on. Well, at least part of it. She would never run away from anything for the rest of her life, she would change it. But just not in the way our mother thought she would.


End file.
